McDonald's museum staying put, for now

November 11, 2013|By Jonathan Bullington, Chicago Tribune reporter

The McDonald's museum on Lee Street is flooded Thursday, April 18, 2013 by the rising Des Plaines River in Des Plaines. The company said it would be "impossible" to dismantle and relocate the museum. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune)

"Due to the nature of the construction of the restaurant, it would be impossible to dismantle and relocate the museum anywhere," said Lisa McComb, McDonald's director of U.S. media relations.

The museum at 400 N. Lee St. is a re-creation of Kroc's first restaurant, which he opened April 15, 1955. It remained a working restaurant until its demolition in 1984. A year later, the company constructed the museum using the original blueprints.

Over the years, some exhibits have sustained damage from repeat flooding, McComb said. The company erected berms around the museum perimeter in the late 1980s in hopes of curbing future flooding, she said.

The berms did little to slow floodwaters from the nearby Des Plaines River, which swelled to record levels in April and surrounded the outdoor museum with several inches of water.

"It is in an area that has flooded numerous times," said Des Plaines City Manager Michael Bartholomew.

Bartholomew said he was unaware of any plans to relocate the museum and said the city's economic development consultant is trying to set up a meeting with company officials to discuss plans for the museum.

"It would be a shame to have them pick it up and move it," he said. "If this is the original site, we'd like to see it stay right there. Picking it up and moving it to someplace where it wasn't originally built seems counterproductive."

The museum interior, containing equipment used in the original restaurant, was closed to the public in 2008, McComb said. Visitors are now able to tour the exterior from Memorial Day to Labor Day. She said 3,000 to 4,000 people visit the museum annually.

Bartholomew said he thinks the site could be better utilized.

"I sense it probably could be used to a much greater extent," he said. "It doesn't necessarily appear to be open. It's more of a drive by (and) take a picture site. There doesn't seem to be an active engagement."

McComb said the company would be open to evaluating the museum's future in Des Plaines.

"We want to preserve that heritage, and we want to decide what's best," she said. "We don't want to be shutting down repeatedly for flooding."